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Go slow please…I installed the X Child Theme. The instructions say I’m ready to go. What exactly does that mean? I’ve been using X for three years without a child theme. Do I switch to the child theme? What about the added functionality and formatting in the main theme?
There’s a step missing in the instructions where you explain what I am to do with the child theme. At the moment, the instructions simply say download, install and have fun. Please elaborate on the third part.Thanks
Phil
Hi there,
Thanks for writing in! A Child Theme will be only needed if you want to add customizations directly to your template files. That means you’re extending the X theme’s functionality by adding your own code. When you setup a child theme, you can copy the file in the main X theme that you want to change into your child theme and then edit as you prefer. So the advantage is that you can update the main X theme while keeping your customizations in the child theme setup.
Other settings will be remain as it is, for example the changes that you’re doing to Customizer or Cornerstone etc.
Hope that’s clear.
I think I understand…when I customize the main theme, I should copy those customized files over to the Child Theme. Then, when the main theme updates to the next version, I should copy the files from the child theme back to the updated version of the main theme. Is that right? Maybe not.
The part I am sure I do not understand is, do I need to activate the child theme to when working on changes? If that is the case, which theme do my visitors see, the main or the child?
Thanks
Phil
Hi @philhulett,
Here’s the best way to go about editing files with child theme :
1. Install, activate and setup the child theme.
2. Copy the php and css files from the main theme which you intend to edit and make changes.
3. Make all the changes into the new copied files which now exists under your child theme.
4. No need to copy them back to the main theme directory.By doing this, when you update your theme to a new version, the theme will of course get updated but the files in the child theme will remain unchanged and the edits will not go away after the update.
Hope this helps – thanks!
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